Rating: Summary: Hysterically true! Review: Once I picked up this book, there was no putting it down! I laughed and laughed until my sides hurt. The main character, Clara, is so straight forward and honest that you can't help but loving her. As a former married person, I could identify with her marital problems and her thoughts of the "grass is greener". I look forward to reading more from India Knight.
Rating: Summary: Granted, India Knight has a great sense of humour, but... Review: The problem with some "easy read" books is that sometimes it gets too obvious how easy it was for the author to write it. In a sense of tallent, that is a good thing, but personally, I don't like seeing that the author hasn't really bothered. That is the case with this book.India Knight has a great sense of humour, in that I agree with most other reviewers. Her occasional comments on everyday life, marital life situations and main character's husband are witty, unexpected, original and imaginative. My favourite included Clara's comment on why her husband should call her some sexy nickname, but not neccessarily "tiger-bum" ("I can wipe my bum properly, you know."), her description of her friend's face when she tried to remind her that wedding vows given in church mean something ("She gave me the look as if I was about to rip off my shirt and reveal the tatoo of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.") and some of her childrens' dialogues. But, that's where it ends, the allure of this book. The story itself is practically inexistant. The drama in Clara's life, at first seems completely imaginary (which can be okay if the character is slightly insane, as it is the case with Bridget Jones, for example), and then simultaneously very predictable and forced, with the ending coming very abruptly, in which I could read either India Knight's: "Oh, I can't be bothered with this book anymore." or her publisher's: "C'mon, India, you've been on that book for ages. Will you finish it already?!" Apart from Clara's and partly her mother's, all the other characters remain only superficially portrayed, and not quite clearly motivated for their actions and roles in the plot development (Dunphy? What about him? Tamsin? Amber? What WAS their role in the plot? Just to show us that Clara has a life?), while the deeply simplified epilogue seems like a rushed "and they lived happily ever after" and "please, reader, let me rest for a while after writing this book" thing. India Knight is definitely tallented, with great potentials and original sense of humour, but I would like some more work and effort invested in her writing. As far as the "urban chick" genre goes, I would advise her and all the other readers to look up Marian Keyes and see what happens when the author of similar potentials actually works on her books.
Rating: Summary: Delicious and Filling Review: There's something about British thirty-something women novels I just love--maybe they're sassier than their American counterparts, or something. Anyway, this story about Claire's life and her attempts to balance her marriage, children, and career rings very true and doesn't resort to cliches or whiny behavior on her part. It gets major points for unpredictability as well. I especially loved "What would Madonna do?"
Rating: Summary: A clean plate and wanting seconds... Review: This book is about what to do when you've already found Mr. Right. . . and life still isn't quite what you expected. I really liked the fact that the main character (Clara) isn't skinny, but an average slightly over-weight woman ~ one of the funniest and most true-to-life characters ever written.. These two components made me fall in love and identify with the story more. This book is guaranteed to brighten up your day and have you laughing again and again!
Rating: Summary: Sheer Pleasure Review: This book is English humour at its best - self-depracating, politically incorrect, and with razor-sharp observation. It is guaranteed to brighten up your day, and make you laugh outloud again, and again, and again. Not only so, but it is poignant, well-written, and really quite moving. A must!
Rating: Summary: Entertaining and Enjoyable Review: This book was fun to read. The characters were convincing and realistic. Although the end was just a little predictable India Knight still manages to keep the reader's curiosity aroused. I would recommend this book to others.
Rating: Summary: One of those books that you are disappointed when it ends! Review: This book was published with a bright pink cover in England, one of the first things that drew me to it and after reading the blurb, decided to buy it. It is a fast paced book (with I will admit, some slow parts!) that endears you to it's main character Clara. I feel for her in every page that I turn, she really does have her life on a plate and what a dull plate that it truly is. From her problems with her husband who is more interested in Womans Vogue than his own wife, to her adorable boys and her ever oppresive mother, to interviews gone wrong and then finding herself vavoom again after such along time and dazzling that one person who may just be the one who turns her life around. This book has it all. It is one of those books that you keep turning the pages no matter where your supposed to be and when you turn that last fateful page, you really are disappointed that it has finished.. You find yourself asking....what she just decided she didn't want to write anymore....how dare she! I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a lighthearted read and wants a smile. Definitely worth the money I paid for it!
Rating: Summary: NOT A DIET BOOK! Review: Tis book is very fun but when reading it it leaves a feeling of something big is just on the next corner. And you read it a litle more and have a few more laughs and .... nothing? Yes ife is just like that when you think something will happen it doesn't and when you don't it will. Just read and have a few laughs
Rating: Summary: Waste Of Time Review: To say I was disappointed with this book would be an understatement in the extreme. I feel cheated, not only out of the dollars that I paid out for this dross, but also out of the time I spent sitting reading it, when I could have been doing something more productive. In fact anything would be more productive than reading this. I'm not saying this book is totally useless, you could use it to line a cat box, but if your thinking of buying it to read, save your money. Any book would be a better read than this one.
Rating: Summary: Knight Nails Marriage, With a Laugh Review: With her first novel India Knight offers up an entertaining, post-Bridgett Jones look at London married life (it's a part of what my husband calls "The British Chick Book" genre). Freelance writer Clara is a mostly happy wife and mother. Sure she's put on a few pounds since her wedding day and her husband Robert is a little less enthusiastic in the bedroom and a lot less than helpful with the children, but they're mostly happy, right? Knight's laugh-out-loud funny takes a strikingly real look at married life--what works for some and doesn't for others. Lots of British-only references will thrill Anglophiles and any woman who doesn't live in a Martha Stewart perfect home with a happy-ever-after fairy tale life will relate to Clara's often humorous woes. "My Life on A Plate" is a great way to while away an afternoon, wrapped in your duvet and wearing your most comfy (and unattractive) "track bots" (i.e. jogging pants).
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